deeds done in the body, that single article ought to be sufficient to secure us against the charge of a want of seriousness.

We have said enough for our purpose. We have spoken in defence and apology alone. We have attacked the sincerity and piety of no sect or denomination of Christians. On the subject of the inspiration of the Scriptures, we have spoken somewhat at length, because it has been much agitated of late, and explicitly, because that is the way in which we always intend to speak in this work. We trust, however, that we have not, by a light, intemperate or uncharitable word, done dishonor to the real seriousness of the faith, which, on that point principally, we have undertaken to defend.

ART. II.-1. The Apocalypse of St John, or, Prophecy of the Church of Rome, the Inquisition, the Great Revolution, the Universal War, and the Final Triumph of Christianity; being a new Interpretation. By the Rev. G. CROLY. 2. Babylon and Infidelity foredoomed of God; a Discourse on the Prophecies and the Apocalypse. By the Rev. E. IRVING. 2 vols.

3. A Key to the Revelation of St John; being an Analysis of those Parts of that Prophetical Book, which relate to the General State of the Christian Church in Aftertimes; and to the peculiar Signs of those Times. By the Rev. PHILIP ALLWOOD, B. D., Fellow of Magdalen College, Cambridge. 2 vols. 8vo.

4. Annotations on the Apocalypse. By the Very Rev. J. C. WOODHOUSE, D. D., Dean of Lichfield. 8vo.

The

WE profess to hold in very light esteem the whole progeny of apocalyptical interpretations, great and small, which have been brought out by the heat of the Catholic question in England. However zealous and ingenious some of them may be, they are all strangely wanting in learning and good sense. titlepages that stand at the head of this article, have not been placed there with the intention of making the works themselves the subjects of any special comment; but merely for the sake of introducing, in a popular form, our own views of the book

to which they relate. In disclosing these views, we shall avoid as far as possible all doubtful questions and all minute criticisms. We shall endeavour to make not only our own meaning, but the meaning of the writing which we wish to elucidate, plain to common readers. We shall try to strip off both the veil and the reproach, which have been cast so long upon this portion of the New Testament. To do this requires no very profound research, and admits, at the present day, of no pretension to originality. The exposition that we shall offer, has in all its leading points been borrowed from Herder's Maranatha, from the annotations of Heinrichs, and especially from the masterly commentary of Eichhorn. We shall assume the genuineness of the Revelation, that is, that it is indeed the production of the apostle John, though we are not unacquainted with the arguments on both sides, which have made this question one of the nicest in sacred criticism.

The book of Revelation is on many accounts the most remarkable among the books of the New Testament. It is neither a narrative like the Gospels, nor an exhortation like the Epistles. It is a vision. Its object is not to unfold any doctrine, or to record any transactions that had taken place on the earth; but it opens its scene, like some gorgeous poem, among the wonders of the invisible world. Its language is not that of ordinary composition, but of symbol and allegory. It adopts the almost hieroglyphical style of some of the latest of the Hebrew prophets, Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah. Strange shapes and portentous signs are from the beginning to the end rising and vanishing before us. We scarcely read it as a book. It resembles a spectacle addressing itself to the eyes; or still more a drama, whose different parts are regularly introduced, and follow one another in splendid succession, interspersed with mysterious voices, with the speech of persons who converse together, and with odes of adoration. Indeed the form of it seems essentially dramatic, from the title to the epilogue; and by looking at it in this light, we make the first step towards the proper understanding of it.

It is a subject at least of liberal curiosity to inquire into the contents of so singular a production. As a part of the Scriptures, of the sacred records of our religion, we take an interest in knowing for what purpose it was written, and what all those bright trains of its descriptions import-in gaining some just apprehension of its great outlines of meaning, if we cannot as

certain satisfactorily all the details. This interest is heightened by the extreme obscurity and difficulty of a book, which has exercised the minds of ingenious men from the early days of the gospel till now. It is heightened still further by the circumstance, that there is continually coming out some new romance under the name of an exposition of the Apocalypse, which is soon gathered to the long, slumbering line of its predecessors in ignorance and dreaming fancies. It may seem presumptuous to profess to speak with decisiveness on a subject which has been so variously regarded, in which the sagacious mind of Sir Isaac Newton showed itself but little in advance of the popular interpretations, and which the learned Luther gave up in despair, saying, in the preface to his translation of the book, 6 Let every one think of it what his own spirit suggests; my spirit can make nothing out of it.' But the keen eye or the good fortune of modern research has discovered what had lain so long concealed. What seems to be the true key to the secret has been accessible to the learned world for more than the third part of a century, and has been so generally agreed on by all who are competent to judge, that no writer is now deserving of the least respect, who pretends to point out in the revelation, any prophecy of any events in civil history, either near our own times, or even since the time of its being written. The fanciful theories that have woven into it the whole history of Europe, and seen depicted upon it almost every military or ecclesiastical leader from Attila king of the Huns to the late Emperor of the French, have been all swept away. No enlightened critic. now thinks of adopting anything like the old ways of exposition. It requires, therefore, but a moderate share of learning, and implies no undue presumption in the attempt, to unfold the general signification of it. We enter on this task the more readily, as no work, we believe, presenting the true picture, has ever been published in England—a country, we must be permitted to say, where sacred letters are lower than in any part of Christendom that professes to cultivate them, perhaps not excepting even our own young republic.

We are anxious to convey in a few words and in general a correct impression of what was written by John, when he was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.' The venerable apostle of the Lord was in banishment at that barren and uninhabited islet of the Ægean sea. The Christians were persecuted under the

emperor Domitian, and it was not to be supposed that their leader, the surviver of all his brethren, should escape. He had gathered communities of believers in all the large cities of the lesser Asia, and he was now taken from the head of them to dwell in this desolate spot. It was natural that in that solitude he should think intensely of the holy cause that had made him an exile there in his old age, the cause in which his two bosom companions, Peter and James, had already given up their lives, one by crucifixion, and the other by the sword. The churches were suffering tribulation, and the heathen were raging against the name of the Lord's anointed, like the sound of the many waters that were rolling around him. In this situation he could not but have remembered the words of his Master, 'if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?' But where were the signs of such a coming? John had lived out nearly all his days, but the hope seemed yet far from its fulfilment. He could only speak of the 'kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.' But he was not left to despond. The assurance was strong within him that this kingdom was to be established in great power, and that speedily. It was to prevail over its two great enemies, the Jews who had rejected its prince, and the Gentiles who were putting to death its subjects. It was to fill the earth. It was to be exalted to heaven. It was to put an end to the evils of the world, and lead on that day of consummated glory, into which the old prophets had been rapt, when the tabernacle of God should be with men, and the former things should have passed away, and there should be no more night, no more sea, no more death, no more curse, neither sorrow nor crying nor pain. The vision of the Apocalypse was unrolled to his mind, and this was the visionthe approaching advent of Christ and the triumph of his religion. This is the whole subject of it. It has no other. It is not prophetic of any particular transactions. So far from looking forward into the minute details of events that were centuries afterwards to take place, it declares, in the very beginning, that it is 'to show things which must shortly come to pass,' and it reat the close, he who testifieth these things saith, Surely peats I come quickly.' Whether the seer, in the images which he presents to us, anticipated a personal appearing of the Messiah and a literal accomplishment of the promises which he records, or whether he points to a spiritual fulfilment in the spread and blessings of the gospel, it is perhaps at this distant day impos

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sible to determine. Whether we suppose one or the other, however, the main current of the interpretation will flow just the same.

It cannot be expected that a short essay should discuss and explain all the particulars that are contained in so long a work. We can attempt only to set in order the several parts of which it is composed, and to touch the prominent points of its wonderful descriptions.

The title of the work is first solemnly announced, with the name of him who bears witness. John then proceeds to address the seven churches of Asia, of which he was the overseer, warning each of them against its peculiar sins and dangers, commending each wherein it was found worthy, and calling on them all to prepare for the end, and to 'hear what the spirit saith unto the churches.' This introduction occupies the three first chapters.-The scene is now opened. John is in the Spirit. He is summoned to look into the courts of heaven, that he may learn what is decreed there to be done on the earth. A throne is before him, and one is seated thereon, -the Ineffable One. Much of the description that follows is after the manner of the vision that Ezekiel saw at the river Chebar. Before the divine presence are intelligent creatures in various shapes, and their perpetual ascription is, 'Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.'-The seer has scarcely recovered himself from the admiration, into which he was cast by so bright a spectacle, when he perceives in the Almighty hand a book,—the book of the fates of the gospel. But it is sealed within and without with seven seals, and no one is found worthy to loose them. While he is filled with grief at this, he discerns Christ in the form of a lamb, standing next the throne, who has prevailed to open the book; and as he receives it, the heavens again resound with praises, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and blessing.'

The opening of the seals now commences; and as each is broken, some prodigy is shown, denoting that times of distress await the inhabitants of the world. As the four first are successively loosed, figures representing Conquest, a bloody Death, Famine and Pestilence, ride forth on a white, red, black and pale horse, the last of which is followed by troops of phantoms.